December 08, 2010

The storage locker that Pete Sampras kept a bunch of his trophies and memorabilia was robbed a few weeks ago. He still has 13 of his 14 trophies, but his Australian Open 1994 trophy is gone, along with any trophies or crystal he won in his 64 tournament wins and 24 finalist appearances.

I have to think these thing are going to be recovered. I mean, how the hell are you going to pawn this shit?

Besides, not to worry you guys. Gimelstob's on the case and is offering a reward. Which obviously makes him a prime suspect.

July 27, 2009

A couple of old dudes dialed the clock back nine years and the result was the same. Marat beat Pete in their LA exo in a tiebreak, 6-4, 3-6 (10-6). Pete was still serving bombs but let's face it, Marat, despite his attempts to prove otherwise, is still a tour player.

I don't know what's up with the sleeveless look. But apparently Pete's been doing some push ups.

July 15, 2009

Interesting stuff from Pete Sampras, as written up by Pete Bodo, on GOATs (or not), Fed, and Marat.

"I do understand the
argument as far as being the best ever. You have to be the man of your
generation. He (Roger) has come up short against Nadal. I can see the
point. It's hard to answer that. I don't know how to answer it.You
know, it's not done yet. Roger's career isn't done yet. He's going to
play Nadal a number of times over the next number of years, and he has
to beat him. He has to beat him in the finals of majors. To be
considered the greatest ever, he certainly in my book is (already
that). But he has to figure this kid out. He has to beat him. He's
lost to him a number of times. You know, you got to be the man of your
generation. He certainly is the man of his generation; he just has to
figure out Nadal."

Pushed to elaborate vis a vis his own experience wih Agassi, Pete added:

"Well,
God, you're giving it some thought, huh (laughter)? It would have
bothered me if I had a losing record against Andre in majors. It
wouldn't have sat well with me. Did it mean I was the greatest or not
the greatest? I don't know. It's the debate of greatest of all time. We
so badly want to pin it on someone. With the numbers you have to give
it to Roger. His record against Nadal, okay, you might not give it to
him.

"I mean, if I
was 7-15 against Andre and I was done, it's hard to say I was the
player of my generation - just because he got the best of me.

...

You may remember that
in his Wimbledon press conference, Rod Laver took the position that in
one match, on grass, he would pick Sampras over Federer. Laver wasn't
the only one who took that tack. Just a few weeks ago, John McEnroe
told me, "Watching these guys today, I keep thinking that if Sampras
walked out there, he’d still drive these guys bananas. In my opinion
he’s still the greatest fast court-player who ever lived. Where Roger
is the greatest, period."

I asked Sampras about that, too. He said:

"Well,
I think one thing Roger doesn't see on grass the last number of years
is really a true serve-and- volleyer, someone that's willing to come in
and put the pressure on and make him pass, make him return these big
serves. I don't think anyone really scares him. I think my game would
make Roger a little bit more uncomfortable. I would obviously come in
on both serves and put the pressure on his backhand, sort of go from
there. . . I would sort of
dictate the play. But, you know, he'd be a tough guy to break,
especially when he's hitting 50 aces like he did (in the recent
Wimbledon final). It would have been a
great matchup

"If I would beat
him? If I felt my best on grass, I did feel unbeatable, especially in
the mid '90s. I was a tough guy to break, played well from the back
court to have chances, and I moved well enough. It's a flattering
comment. Do I think I could have beaten Roger in my prime? Sure. I
don't think anyone could beat me in my prime on grass. I felt as Roger
does now - he feels unbeatable."

...

"Marat and I always got
along very well when we were playing. He's a really nice guy, great
player, showed what he could do especially at the US Open the one year,
he tuned me up pretty good. He's an expressive guy on the court, shows
emotion. Off the court, he's a happy-go-lucky guy. I was pretty
reserved when I was playing, to myself. For whatever reason, he and I
seemed to get on really well. We practiced quite a bit together.

"You
know, he's a champion. He got to No. 1. He won a major, I think two
majors. It's sad to see him go because I think he brought a lot to the
sport. Haven't sort of kept in contact with him. But certainly when I
see him, we'll talk about some of our matches. When Paul (Annacone)
was coaching (Tim) Henman, Marat would ask Paul, How is Pete doing? He was always just a personable guy, really nice guy, and someone that I've always gotten along really well with."

Interesting stuff from the always honest and forthcoming Pete. Too bad no one asked him about Palin. That would have been fun.

February 10, 2009

The SAP Open in San Jose kicked off yesterday and Pete Sampras shook the dust off his Pro Staff to show the packed crowd what it kinda sorta looked like when he used to play, if he was slower, less flexible, less explosive, and wasn't as good. He was supposed to play Blah in the exo but Blah, ironically, had to pull out due to a sore back. So in stepped Tommy Haas.

What is this, 2002?

The night session was capped with Special K taking on the ever annoying Gilles Muller. Kei took him out in straight sets, 75 62.

November 19, 2008

I'm making my way through A Champion's Mind, which so far, is really great and I highly recommend it. It's fun to see how this guy was hard wired, and the anecdotes are relevant even today because you can see how Rafa and Roger are very similarly built.

But if you want the Cliff's Notes version, here's a great article on Pete from today. Thanks to mkeller for sending it along.

November 05, 2008

Would it be terribly gauche of me, as an American, to go to the
U.S./Switzerland Davis Cup match and cheer for Federer. Or, should I
just pretend to be, er, French?

-- Darise, Amherst

•
Not gauche. And depending on where the event is held, it might not even
be dangerous. I do think you've also highlighted a...I don't want to
say a flaw, but maybe an "odd dimension" of Davis Cup. In this era of
globalization, who can really get worked up in a nationalistic frenzy,
cheering against those dastardly Swiss?

Now that Rafa is the year-end No. 1, Sampras' record of six years
as year-end No. 1 remains. Am I right? You had mentioned earlier in one
of your mail bags that "it's one of sports' most underrated records." I
thought I would point that out now. Fed was year-end No. 1 for five
consecutive years.-- Shanky Fremont, Calif.

• Good point. Pete Sampras,
take a bow. Long as you brought up Sampras, as many of you know, I've
been spending this fall trying to write a book about Federer, Nadal and
the 2008 Wimbledon final. In the course of the research, I've really
been struck by how classily Sampras has handled the "Greatest Ever"
talk and his relationship with Federer more generally. Hard to imagine
too many other athletes embracing the guy who's gunning for their
record.

I am wondering. Are you getting any questions about Sharapova
those days? Or more generally: how long does it typically take for a
player (injured or retired) to be "forgotten"? I guess you can judge
this from the mails you get.-- D.P., Europe

•
Interesting question. I'm not sure this is the greatest barometer for
her relevance, but, as one would expect, the Sharapova questions have
slowed to a trickle. It's funny, though, because I think she (more
specifically, her health) is a fiercely relevant subject. Before her
shoulder went back on the fritz, she was playing exceptionally well to
start the year and is/was, I think, the obvious heiress to the top
spot, the player best suited to grab the top spot and make some order
of all the chaos in the women's game. If she is unable to come back,
the WTA is a much weaker product.

Have you ever seen Mario Ancic and Marin Cilic in the same room at the same time?-- Brett Davis, Los Angeles, Calif.

September 30, 2008

Nevermind that Pistol Pete is a Republican, that much is weird in and of itself but for whatever reason, not all that surprising. As one of my Red State friends always says "If you're rich and you're not a Republican, you're a communist." Yeah, he's rich. And I'm actually kind of with him insofar as I could care less what athletes and celebrities say about politics.